Holy Spider

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Holy Spider

2022

1h 56m

Crime

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

82%

Tomatometer

141 Reviews

78%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

In HOLY SPIDER, we follow family man Saeed as he embarks on his own religious quest -- to "cleanse" the holy Iranian city of Mashhad of immoral and corrupt street prostitutes. After murdering several women, he grows ever more desperate about the lack of public interest in his divine mission.

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Critics Consensus

Holy Spider foregoes subtlety in favor of a viscerally outraged dramatization inspired by appalling actual events.

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Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

It’s a tense, atmospheric piece of film-making but it made me profoundly uncomfortable – and not, I should add, in a good way.

Rated: 2/5

Jan 22, 2023

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Kevin Maher

The Times (UK)

An intensely stylish and appropriately troubling film, with stomach-churning murders and a pacy first half that’s reminiscent of David Fincher’s Zodiac.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 20, 2023

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Danny Leigh

Financial Times

The film is an Iranian social history that looks, at first, like a serial killer movie... it is both.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 19, 2023

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Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Abassi's thriller has a gripping start that is solidified, just enough, by a decent performance from Zar Amir Ebrahimi, but its narrative loses its trace of intrigue and, unfortunately, becomes somewhat conventional. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 6/10

Apr 21, 2025

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Daniel Allen

Loud and Clear Reviews

Aided by its two lead performances, Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider is a brutal, chilling thriller that is full of righteous anger at Iran’s system of misogyny.

Rated: 4/5

Jul 25, 2024

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Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

The most disturbing part of Ali Abassi’s Holy Spider is not the grisly subject matter, nor the blunt and unpleasant depictions of several murders, but the mere fact that it is all based on a true story.

Rated: 7/10

Mar 20, 2024

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Omid

Excellent cinematography, acting. I was impressed by how they depicted the city of Mashhad in Iran in the early 2000s, so accurately

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/10/22

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RP

This is a brilliant movie not just because it is highly entertaining. It is brilliant because of being a realistic depiction of what has actually been going on. It tells the truth! It IS the naked truth!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/14/22

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Azin

Outstanding acting and performance.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/07/22

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Bob S

An extremely disturbing film for multiple reasons: a) the director has chosen to show us the violence and its sexual associations vividly. Some would call this exploitive, but I'm sure the director had his reasons for making this choice. Many other directors have chosen explicit shots to capture the real horror of it, so that we can't whitewash it. It's disturbing nonetheless, because it offers the opportunity for exploitation. Note that the vivid visuals apply not just to the attacks, but also to the punishment. b) the mass religious movement, that we also see in America lately, to label some people sinners who do not deserve to live. Horrifying. This is not just an indictment of Iranian society or extreme Islam; it is an indictment of American religious extremists who feel the same way c) the passing on of such extremist thinking to children, so that the violence never ends. It's not that this topic has not been filmed often before. Does this film add anything? Probably the movie is most valuable in its depiction of how the greater society can embrace this kind of horror

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/10/25

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Farah R

I saw this film by chance, and it was a pleasant surprise. Holy Spider is tense and uncomfortable to watch as it aptly uses its fact-based source material to create a bone-chilling thriller. The cast was phenomenal as every actor convincingly played their role and made it effortless to connect with their characters. Not every day a foreign film captivates me, but this one's truly well-made.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/04/24

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Jonah K

doesn’t do a whole lot to differentiate itself from the usual serial killer thriller. regarding the onscreen violence, i’m not really sure where i stand. for the most part, within the visual medium of film, people would rather be shown than told. however, it does seem that there are certain realities that this doesn’t apply to. are these scenes made for the entertainment of the sociopath or for the depiction of the truth? it’s a delicate balance that this film isn’t able to achieve.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/31/24

Full Review

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Ali Abbasi

Director

Zar Amir-Ebrahimi

Rahimi

Mehdi Bajestani

Saeed

Arash Ashtiani

Sharifi

Forouzan Jamshidnejad

Fatima

Sina Parvaneh

Rostami

9 Most Anticipated Films at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival

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Synopsis

In HOLY SPIDER, we follow family man Saeed as he embarks on his own religious quest -- to "cleanse" the holy Iranian city of Mashhad of immoral and corrupt street prostitutes. After murdering several women, he grows ever more desperate about the lack of public interest in his divine mission.

Director: Ali Abbasi
Producer: Sol Bondy, Jacob Jarek
Screenwriter: Ali Abbasi, Afshin Kamran Bahrami
Distributor: Utopia
Production Co: Wild Bunch International, Why Not Productions, Profile Pictures, One Two Films
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Persian
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 28, 2022, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 21, 2023
Runtime: 1h 56m
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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